Oracle is set to power a new data center with upwards of 1 gigawatt (GW) capacity through nuclear energy, according to the firm’s CTO Larry Ellison.
Speaking during a recent earnings call, Ellison confirmed the cloud computing giant has “already got building permits” for three nuclear reactors - small modular reactors (SMRs) to be precise, which are theoretically cheaper to run owing to their size.
“This is how crazy it's getting. This is what's going on,” Ellison raved in response to an analyst question about the market’s move from AI training to AI inferencing.
Oracle’s nuclear plans form at least part of the firm’s forward-looking vision, with Ellison talking up the company’s huge data center portfolio and the accelerating power capacity of each site.
The firm has 162 data centers live and under construction across the globe, Ellison said, with the largest of these sites commanding 800 megawatts (MW) in power consumption and “acres” of Nvidia GPU clusters for AI development.
“That's what's required to stay competitive in the race to build one - just one - of the most powerful artificial neural networks in the world,” Ellison said.
“The stakes are high and the race goes on. Soon Oracle will begin construction of data centers that are more than a gigawatt,” he added, referring to the nuclear-powered data center.
Ellison also talked up some of the firm’s recent announcements at Oracle CloudWorld 2024, which saw the firm push towards the “multi-cloud era” via partnerships with AWS and Google Cloud.
Oracle is the latest to tap into nuclear
With data center power demands skyrocketing, nuclear power has become an attractive option for companies hoping to source larger amounts of energy whilst minimizing carbon emissions.
In April this year, for example, AWS announced plans to spend $650 million on a data center location situated next to the Susquehanna nuclear power station in Pennsylvania, capable of producing 2.5 GW.
A few months ago this move hit a snag, however, after several electricity providers hit out at the project over potential price hikes for taxpayers or problems with grid availability in the area.
More recently, Constellation Energy announced that it would be partnering up with Microsoft to reopen the infamous ‘Three Mile Island’ nuclear plant, over 40 years after one of the reactors suffered a partial meltdown.
-
Bigger salaries, more burnout: Is the CISO role in crisis?In-depth CISOs are more stressed than ever before – but why is this and what can be done?
-
Cheap cyber crime kits can be bought on the dark web for less than $25News Research from NordVPN shows phishing kits are now widely available on the dark web and via messaging apps like Telegram, and are often selling for less than $25.
-
UK cloud infrastructure set for boost amid $5 billion Oracle investmentNews Oracle is set to invest $5 billion (£3.85 billion) to ramp up support for the UK’s cloud infrastructure capabilities.
-
Stargate project: OpenAI, Oracle pledge support for $500 billion AI infrastructure driveNews US President Donald Trump has unveiled the launch of the $500 billion Stargate Project to expand US AI infrastructure in collaboration with OpenAI, Oracle, and SoftBank.
-
Meta wants to join the big tech nuclear clubNews Meta has become the latest big tech company to explore the use of nuclear energy to power data centers.
-
Data centers will be critical to UK economic growth in the coming decade – but researchers have warned of a ‘data doomsday’ unless energy infrastructure is improvedNews With TechUK calling for improved grid connections and easier access to renewable energy, a new study warns that the world's entire electricity supply may not be enough
-
Europe needs more energy and better grids to meet data center power demands in the age of AINews Data center energy demands in Europe are set to triple by the end of the decade, and that means countries will need to boost investment in sustainable power sources and upgrade grid infrastructure.
-
Microsoft’s Three Mile Island deal is a big step toward matching data center energy demands, but it's not alone — AWS, Oracle, and now Google are all hot for nuclear powerNews The Three Mile Island deal comes after concerns over Microsoft’s carbon emissions surge
-
Google and Oracle data centres hit by issues amidst hottest ever UK dayNews The tech giants were forced to remedy servers as cooling systems strained against 40C outside temperatures
-
Oracle to open G-Cloud certified UK datacentreNews New Thames Valley-based facility set to open in July.
